Tesco is to stop selling single-use plastic bags in its stores, replacing them with "bags for life" to be offered at double the price.

All of the supermarket's 3,500 UK stores will stop selling the 5p bags from August 28, in favour of new 10p bags.

Online shoppers, however, will still be able to buy bags for single use.

The retail giant - one of the so-called 'Big Four' British supermarkets - has stated that, despite the government clamping down on free single use bags in 2015, it still sells 700 million such bags a year.

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"But there is no such place as 'away' and millions of tonnes of plastic are ending up in our rivers, beaches, streets and in the sea every year, harming marine life."

The government ordered major retailers in England to stop giving away single use bags for free in October 2015, and ordered proceeds to go to charity.

Retailers with 250 or more full-time equivalent employees have to charge a minimum of 5p for the bags they provide for shopping in stores and for deliveries, but smaller shops and paper bags are not included.

Tesco's own Bags of Help scheme has provided £33M to 6,400 local community projects since 2015, despite the store giving out 1.5 billion fewer single use bags in that time.